E 462 
.1 

.M33 
Copy 1 



API) R ESS 






GENERAL A. B. R, SPRAGUE, 

GUAM) COMMANDER, 



DEPARTMENT OF 



G. A. ft. 



DELIVERED AT THE 



ANNUAL MEETING OE THE DEPARTMENT 



IX WORCESTER, JANUARY 20, 1869. 



BOS T <>N: 
B. F. BENNETT & ATIONERS, 

No. 116 State Stkk 

1869. 



^^^^* 



W^T^y»^^^^f¥y^T^¥^^¥^^ M M »M 



r 



ADDRESS 



OF 

GENERAL A. B. R. SPRAGUE, . 

5 
GEAND COMMANDER, 



DEPARTMENT OF MASS. 



Gr . A . R 



DELIVERED AT THE 



ANNUAL MEETING OF THE DEPARTMENT 



IN WORCESTER, JANUARY 20, 1869. 



i » 
i > i 



BOSTON: 
B. F. BENNETT & CO., STATIONERS, 

No. 116 State Street. 

1869. 






E-v 



(*~2- 



^ 33 



ADDRESS. 



Comrades : — 

We have assembled in accordance with the Rules and 
Regulations of our Order, and upon the day designated in 
our By-Laws, to discharge important duties entrusted to 
us as the representatives of thousands of onr comrades 
who constitute the Department of Massachusetts, Grand 
Army of the Republic. 

To God, the Great Commander of all, let us with grate- 
ful hearts to-day, upon the threshold of the opening year, 
lay upon the altar our feeble tribute of praise for innumera- 
ble blessings vouchsafed to us as individuals ; as citizens 
still living under a Republican form of Government, and 
as members of our noble Order, which is gathering into the 
fold of brotherhood by thousands, the veterans who kept 
step to the music of the Union, and rallied around the dear 
old flag in the dark days of the Rebellion. 



I do not propose to encroach upon the brief hours allot- 
ted to this Convention, by the presentation of an elaborate 
address, but shall, briefly, in a general way, review the pro- 
gress of the Order during the year just closed, and refer 
you to the Reports of the Assistant Adjutant-General and 
Assistant Quarter- Master General, for details. 

The first Post in this State was chartered on the 4th day 
of October, 1866. A sufficient number of Posts having 
been formed, the Department of Massachusetts was per- 
manently organized on the 7th day of May, 1867, and at 
the commencement of the year 1868, forty Posts had been 
duly chartered, and the names of about nineteen hundred 
members inscribed upon our rolls. 

At the meeting of the National Encampment, held in 
the City of Philadelphia, on the 15th, 16th, and 17th days 
of January last, important changes were made in the re- 
vision of the Rules and Regulations, as well as in our 
Ritual. 

The District System was abolished, bringing Posts and 
Post Officers into direct communication with Department 
Head- Quarters. This change secured uniformity in sys- 
tem, and punctuality in despatch of business, while it added 
largely to the duties imposed upon the Assistant Adjutant- 
General, and without question, has materially retarded the 
establishment of Posts in the sparsely settled portions of 
our Commonwealth. 



To facilitate the transaction of business, Head- Quarter- 
having been established at Boston, by the courtesy of 
Comrade E. J. Jones, rooms were secured in Bromfield 
Street, free of cost; and to relieve the Assistant Adjutant- 
General of a portion of the detail of the office, I appoint- 
ed Comrade C. W. Thompson, Acting Assistant Adju- 
tant-General. 

There are those in every community who look with 
suspicion upon secret organizations, and who shrink in- 
stinctively from connecting themselves with, or counte- 
nancing an Institution whose doors and doings are sealed 
to all save the initiated or those who are eligible to mem- 
bership. But the frank and open avowal of the objects to 
be accomplished by this Organization, announced to the 
world, and incorporated in the revised Rules and Regula- 
tions of our Order, as adopted at the last meeting of the 
National Encampment, has placed beyond a doubt, if any 
before existed, that the results we hope to accomplish in 
this Union, which we have formed, justify the means and 
entitle our Order to the confidence of the patriotic and the 
charitable. We aim, 

1st. To preserve and strengthen those kind and fraternal 
feelings which have bound together the Soldiers, Sailors, 
and Marines, who united to suppress the late Rebellion. 

2d. To make these feelings efficient in works of kind- 
ness, and material aid to those who fought with us by land 



or by sea, for the preservation of the Union, and who now 
need our assistance for themselves or their families, by 
making provision where it is not already made. 

3d. For the protection and assistance of such as have 
been disabled, either by wounds, sickness, old age, or 
misfortune. 

For the maintenance of the widows of such as have 
fallen, and the support, care and education of their children, 

4th. To establish and secure the rights of these de- 
fenders of their couutry, by all moral, social, and political 
means in our control. 

To inculcate upon the whole country a proper apprecia- 
tion of their services, and a recognition of their just claims- 

But this Association does not design to make nomina- 
tions for office, or use its influence as a secret organization 
for political purposes. 

5th. To maintain true allegiance to the United States 
of America, based upon a permanent respect for, and fidelity 
to, the National Constitution and Laws, to be manifested 
by the discountenancing of whatever may tend to weaken 
loyalty, incite to insurrection, treason, or rebellion, or in 
any manner impair the efficiency and permanency of our 
free institutions, together with a defence of universal lib- 
erty, equal rights, and justice to all men. 

These are our doctrines and our articles of faith. 



Governed by these principles, the growth of our Order 
has been unparalelled in history. Entering upon the third 
year of its existence, we find thirty-eight Departments fully 
organized, with nearly three thousand Posts, and a mem- 
bership exceeding four hundred thousand. 

During the past year, the record of our Department will, 
we believe, compare favorably with any other. From forty 
Posts, and less than two thousand members, we have in- 
creased to seventy-seven Posts, and more than six thousand 
members. 

Borne upon our rolls, to-day, are the illustrious names of 
officers of high rank, who served with distinguished ability, 
and added to the fame and glory of our ancient Common- 
wealth ; and thousands of the rank-and-file who, with 
muskets and bayonets formed that living parapet of fire 
which defied the shot and shell, and drove back the traitor 
hordes, silencing their batteries and their yells, forever im- 
mortalizing the citizen soldier, and by their intrepid valor 
saving all that is dear to the patriot. All united alike, 
pledged to maintain our country's honor, and bestow with 
a brother's hand our noble charities. 

From the " gnawings of hunger, and the pinchings of 
want." from a pauper's fare and a pauper's grave, how- 
many have been rescued, will only be known when the 
recording angel renders his final account; but those of you 
who have stood by the bedside of a sick and dying com- 



8 

rade, and ministered to his comfort, and dropped a tear as 
with tender hands you have committed " earth to earth, 
ashes to ashes, dust to dust ; " yon, who as individuals or 
the almoners of the Post, have fed the hungry and clothed 
the naked, and seen the eye of an unfortunate comrade, 
his widow or orphan moisten with gratitude that sympa- 
thy and relief were timely bestowed, have no lingering 
doubt of the success of our Organization, or that Charity 
is its Chief Corner Stone. 

It was predicted before the close of the war, that with 
returning peace a large proportion of our army, demoral- 
ized by the scenes and surroundings ever attendant upon 
" active service," would become unfitted for the peaceful 
pursuits of life. But such false prophets forgot, that as a 
rule, the men who buckled on the armor were actuated by 
love of country and a determination that the republican 
form of government established and secured by the suffer- 
ings and indomitable perseverance of our fathers, should 
not perish without a struggle. By the discipline of the 
army, and the trials they endured, they learned the value of 
citizenship, they earned the highest place in the hearts of 
their countrymen, and were entitled to a " proper apprecia- 
tion of their services" from a country they had sacrificed 
so much to save. 

From military to civil life, the step was easy. One to his 
farm, another to his merchandise, and another to his profes- 



9 

sion. Having laid aside the blue, and adopted the garb of 
the civilian, to each other, except to persona] acquaintances, 

comrades were unknown, and the old adage that " Repub- 
lics are ungrateful," had become an axiom to many, who. 
in search of employment, learned that with some employers 
it was a positive disqualification if the applicant had served 
in the armies of the Union. 

We have learned from experience, that in " union there 
is strength," as in militaty so also in civil life, and by com- 
bined action have already done something to command the 
respect of individuals and communities, and win the confi- 
dence and esteem of the good and the charitable. 

We may congratulate ourselves, in this Department al 
least, that during a year of unusual political excitement, we 
have closed up our ranks, thrown our standard to the 
breeze, inscribed with the ever-living principles of our 
Order, and have not circumscribed its influence by lending 
its organized strength for partizan purposes. 

" To maintain true allegiance to the United States of 
America," requires no special effort on the part of those 
who have voluntarily borne arms to sustain its honor and 
its flag. 

To " discountenance whatever may tend to weaken loy- 
alty, incite to insurrection, treason, or rebellion," is the 
plainest duty of every American citizen. 



10 

Treason is no less a crime because traitors go unpunished. 

We have been taught that "to err is human, to forgive, 
divine." But that forgiveness which precedes repentance 
is not of divine origin. 

I have unswerving confidence in the patriotism of the 
men and women of our country, whose prayers went up like 
incense to the throne of God, that He would give us vic- 
tory in the day of battle, who kept not back their sons and 
brothers, but sent them out to strike for home and country, 
and laid upon its altar their dearest earthly hopes to stem 
the tide, to fill the trenches that over their bodies torn and 
bleeding, some might storm the citadel of treason, and 
plant the insignia of our liberty, (so often torn to shreds 
in the fearful struggle,) on the topmost walls. 

But we may well blush when we instruct our children in 
the history of our struggle for the nation's life, and bid 
them learn the lesson of the war, to admit that no punish- 
ment was meted out to those who betrayed their country. 
Aye, more, that before five summers had passed, ere — over- 
whelmed in defeat, in the last ditch the traitors surrendered — 
the country heard without a shock, to unrepentant rebels, 
without reservation, full pardon and amnesty proclaimed 
for the offence of treason against the United States, during 
the late civil war, with restoration of all rights, privileges, 
and immunities under the constitution and the laws 
which have been made in pursuance thereof. 



11 

In the name of outraged humanity; by the untold suf- 
ferings endured by our comrades, faithful even unto death, 

in the prison-pens at Andersonville, at Salisbury, at Belle 
Lile, and other places of torment ; in the name of more 
than three hundred thousand dead, the flower of the Re- 
public, victims of a rebellion which sought to overthrow 
the best government ever established on earth, since the 
morning stars sang together ; we enter our solemn pro- 
test against the admission to equal rights and privileges of 
traitors, who welcomed, with bloody hands, our comrades 
" to hospitable graves," who inhumanly, by starvation and 
torture, drove out from its clayey tenement the patriot ^oul 
they could not conquer, and who have forfeited their lives 
by every principle of equity and justice. Shall we extend 
the olive branch to such as these, while we deny the right 
of citizenship To those who were w faithful among the 
faithless found ? " 

The Commandef-in-Chief, remembering the noble sacri- 
fices of the gallant dead, wisely set apart the 30th day of 
May, 1868, "for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or 
otherwise decorating the graves of those who died in the 
defence of their country during the late rebellion." 

In this Department the day was observed wiih becoming 
solemnity. All that was mortal of thousands who fell on 
distant fields, sons of Massachusetts, have found a resting 
place among kindred and friends. To the humblest grave 



12 



and the costliest monument alike, the choicest flowers and 
freshest garlands were borne by comrades' hand, and with 
appropriate ceremonies tenderly strewn in memory of the 
gallant ones who thought that 

" To die in Freedom's cause, was something gained, 
And nothing lost, to fall." 

The day was faithfully inaugurated. He who joined 
the services, drank new inspiration as bending over the 
narrow house appointed for all the living, each conse- 
crated all the powers of body and mind to the maintenance 
of those principles for which they suffered and died. 

In answer to a call from the proper authorities, this De- 
partment sent a quantity of flags to decorate the graves of 
our comrades buried in the vicinity of Richmond. 

In many localities, where no Posts exist, appropriate ser- 
vices were held, and fair hands twined the laurel and the 
rose, and laid them above the sleeper, in memory of the 
heroic dead, whose names and deeds are immortal. 

Let us, then, year by year, gather around the sacred 
places, and perform this beautiful and touching ceremony, 
" while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory 
of his departed comrades." It is less than four years since 
along our lines the roar of cannon, and the rattle of mus- 
ketry died away. 



13 

The little wooden slab sometimes erected over a gllaant 
comrade, buried on the field where he fell, would hardly 
be recognized to-day by the hand of affection which rear- 
ed it. The plow in the furrow has forever obliterated 
the last trace of many a soldier's testing place, save to 
His All-seeing Eye, "without whose notice not a spar- 
row falls." 

" When Spring with busy fingers cold, 
Returns to deck, their hallowed mould, 
She there shall dress a sweeter sod 
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. 
By fairy bands their knell is rung, 
By forms unseen their dirges sun": ; 
There Honor comes, a pilgrim, gray, 
To bless the turf that wraps their claw 
And Freedom shall awhile repair 
To dwell a weeping hermit there." 

Time's busy fingers are gently crumbling Bastion and 
Redan. " Scarp and Counter-Scarp meet in the ditch." 
A little ridge only marks the field work where contending 
armies fought, where the soil drank in the life-blood of our 
patriot comrades, and over which hovered the angel of lib- 
erty, to give the countersign to die faithful to pass the gol- 
den irate to immortality. 

They died before victory was proclaimed, and our land 

was consecrat-d by its baptism in their blood, to unive 
liberty. 



14 

Day by day the darkness of the grave closes over com- 
rades who rode out the storm, when the angel of death 
held high carnival ; and soon " mustered out," shall be 
written against the name of the last survivor of the war of 
the Rebellion, and the Grand Army of the Republic shall 
be known only in history. 

Welcome, then, to our swelling ranks, every veteran who 
is eligible to membership, for ours is the work of a genera- 
tion, and if well done, shall, through agencies incompre- 
hensible to us, known only to Him who knows the end 
from the beginning, be felt a living power, when the names 
of those who participated in this great struggle for the 
advancement of Right shall be forgotten, and the mon- 
uments reared to their memory shall have crumbled into 
dust. 

Comrades, 

To-day it is your duty to designate such officers as are 
elective, into whose hands shall be committed the direction 
of the interests of our Order in this Department for the 
ensuing year. I fully appreciate the unsolicited honor 
which was conferred when the important trust, which I 
surrender into your hands to-day, was committed to my 
keeping for the term now closing, and I embrace this occa- 
sion, coupled with the announcement that I am not a can- 
didate for re-election, to make grateful acknowledgments 



15 

for the prompt assistance rendered by the Council of Ad- 
ministration, and for the uniform courtesy extended to me 
at all times by my associates. 

I bear special testimony to the marked ability, fidelity, and 
energy with which Assistant Adjutant- General Sherwin 
has discharged the important duties of his office. With a 
clear head, an honest heart, and a just perception of the 
objects we hope to accomplish, he has labored faithfully 
and assiduously, and is entitled to receive your warmest 
commendation, and my personal gratitude. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





012 161 731 6 




